Blog Scan

SCOTUS Petitions to Watch: SCOTUSblog writer Kristina Moore provides a list of "Petitions to Watch" when the Supreme Court meets for its September 29th "long conference." Moore's post gives details on four criminal cases before the Court, including Holmes v. Louisiana which asks the Court whether the operation of Louisiana's capital punishment scheme and the
State Supreme Court's proportionality review violate the Eighth
Amendment's guarantee against arbitrariness in capital sentencing. Another interesting case, Ryan v. Styers (formerly Schriro v. Styers), is on the list. CJLF's Brief in Support of Certiorari is available here.

Ninth Circuit Upholds Prisoner Release Condition: On Sentencing Law and Policy Doug Berman posts an excerpt from the Ninth Circuit's decision to uphold a condition of supervised release that prevents a convicted carjacker from entering the city of San Francisco without the permission of his probation officer. In U.S. v. Watson, the Ninth Circuit rejected Watson's claim that the condition interfered with his "constitutional rights to travel and move..." and held that the condition was "reasonably tied to the court's stated aims of rehabilitation and
deterrence and is no more restrictive than reasonably necessary to
serve those purposes."

Ohio Execution Delayed: Yesterday on Sentencing Law and Policy, Doug Berman linked to an AP story reporting on a delay in the execution of Rommell Broom. The AP article, by Andrew Welsh-Huggins, reports that Federal Judge Gregory Frost ordered that Broom's execution be delayed until November 30th. The state did not oppose the order. In his post, Berman predicts that the delay "could easily extend the Broom case deep into 2010 and beyond." He also wonders how Ohio will treat the executions it has scheduled before the close of 2009.Career Hazard -- Social Networking Website: Eugene Volokh has a quick post on Volokh Conspiracy about a "Burglar [who] Leaves His Facebook Page on Victim's Computer." According to Edward Marshall's story in the Martinsburg, VA Journal, the burglar broke into a woman's home, stole her diamond rings, and sat down to check out his Facebook page. He was apprehended after the victim noticed the burglar had forgotten to log out.